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It's 4:30 a.m. on Friday and this is my second early wake-up in a row.

I'd like to say it's because I've been on my way hunting, but it's not.

Yesterday I had to hit the road at O-dark-30 to go to the DGIF board meeting in Richmond to cover the board's vote on the proposal to protect elk that wander into the state from our neighbors, a story I wrote up for today's Outdoors Page in The Roanoke Times. I was going to link to that story here, but it didn't make it onto our Roanoke.com Web site. So if you want to read what happen you'll have to buy the paper. At least my fall turkey hunting preview made it.

Today I'm on the way to the airport for a 6 a.m. flight. But it's not a bad thing, either. My wife and I are heading to Chicago for short little getaway, and I actually will be back at Northwestern tomorrow for our homecoming game against Indiana. It should be a fun weekend, even though the weather doesn't look too good.

My mom is in town to watch the kids, and having her here next week should help free me up to finally get back in the woods.

Good luck to everyone this weekend and I'll be back at it on Monday.

Eighteen-year-old Jacob Creasy of Troutville killed this nice gobbler on May 5 near Buchanan. He was hunting with his dad, who did the calling. This was one of those quick hunts -- 20 minutes worth -- with the pair back at the truck by 6:50 a.m.

The gobbler weighed 21 pounds, had a 9.75-inch beard and 1 1/8-inch spurs.

For those who might not have caught my Tuesday column in The Roanoke Times, I reported that electronic checking numbers for spring gobblers were up 18 percent over the 2008 season. That doesn't mean the kill was up because the DGIF still has to count all the birds that were tallied at check stations. That process usually takes a couple of months so we won't have solid figures for a while.

Proud mom Angela Davis of Radford sent in this awesome shot of her 8-year-old son, B (just B, no period) with his first gobbler.

B was hunting with his cousin, Lew Davis, on family property near the Little River when he got his bird on the final day of the spring season. The gobbler weighed 17 pounds, had a 10-inch beard and 1-inch spurs.

The star of this photo isn't the bird, though. Just look at that grin on B's face.

I would guess this is how most us feel after a great hunt, but I think sometimes we are a little hesitant to show our true emotions in our hero shots.

Neil Brooks and brother-in-law Terry Dameron teamed up for another gobbler on a wet day in early May.

The bird crossed a river to come to their set-up, which they had sweetened with a Primo B-Mobile decoy.

The bird weighed a bit over 17 pounds, had 1-inch spurs and a 10.75-inch beard. Brooks said it came in with a second 2-year-old but things happened so fast they weren't able to pull off the double.

A proud Sherry Burke of Christiansburg sent in this shot of her husband, Allan, with a great gobbler he killed on the final day of the season.

The gobbler weighed 22 pounds and had a 10-inch-long beard.

Jason Nicholson sent in this shot of a great gobbler he killed on May 13 in Floyd County.

When Nicholson started working this bird, he got an answer from a hen. He actually thought the hen was another hunter. That was until the hen came in, pulling this guy behind her.

The gobbler weighed 20 pounds and had a 10.5-inch beard. One spur was an inch long; the other 1.25 inches long.

Jim Basham sent this shot to me in late April, when I was spending about 16 hours a day at Smith Mountain Lake during the Bassmaster Elite Series tournament. I missed it then, and just came across it.

Basham was hunting with buddy Mark Mullen in the Roanoke area, and had turkeys all over them on this morning. A big mature gobbler came close but neither could get a shot. Then this gobbling jake came in with another gobbler that stayed out of view. When Basham got a good shot he took it.

One of the most exciting spring turkey hunts I've ever had was one that involved a couple of gobbling, strutting jakes. It's about the experience, after all.

Terry Dameron (right) shot this great gobbler in Franklin County as his brother-in-law Neil Brooks shot video. The turkey was almost a clone of Brooks' bird posted below, weighing 18 pounds and with an 11-inch beard and 1.25-inch spurs. The kill was made between 8 and 8:30 a.m., and the bird covered a lot of ground to investigate the hunters' calls.

Neil Brooks (right) was hunting with his buddy Travis Rivers when this nice gobbler came in from a long way out on a recent hunt in Franklin County. The bird had an 11-inch beard and 1.25-inch spurs, and weighed 18 pounds, which is not unusual for mature toms that have been running hard in the spring.

I'm starting to think maybe Andrew East of Roanoke was sandbagging when he sent in a gobbler picture earlier this spring and said it was his first turkey.

East's second gobbler fell on an April 29 hunt. Like with East's first successful hunt, this one had something of a veteran tone to it.

The first veteran trick was East went hunting even though he overslept. Instead of going to where he had planned, in Botetourt County, he stayed closer to home and hunted at a friend's in Roanoke County.

The next good move was he stuck with it even though things were quiet from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30. ( I guess when he said he slept in, I guess he meant he really slept in.) Finally heading back off the mountain he heard a single gobble. He set up, and made a few calls. In came three hens, then this guy trailing them. East was able to make the 30-yard shot with time to spare before the noon cut-off for legal hunting hours. The gobbler had an 8-inch beard and 1-inch spurs.